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While Ineos Britania earned the right to challenge for the 37th America’s Cup in Barcelona at the weekend, another cup was being contested on local waters a few hours earlier.
With 10 youth teams from across New Zealand hosted by the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron (RNZYS) Friday saw the final day of racing in the Toyota Kiwi Cup Regatta.
“I am so proud of the ten teams, with three days training and then the two-day regatta in the Emirates Team New Zealand Elliott 7s. At the start of the week a lot of these kids haven’t sailed together or in keelboats before,”said RNZYS Performance Sailing Manager Zak Merton. “
The week-long intensive ended with the two-day regatta and some fierce competition.
Ultimately, it was down to the two Auckland teams, proving the local edge - with Royal Akarana Yacht Club (RAYC) beating Murrays Bay Sailing Club by just one point.
When asked about their biggest challenges over the week, RAYC team skipper Louis Quere spoke about the “shifty conditions, picking the right shift would make or break your race”.
Although the level of on-water sailing at the Toyota Kiwi Cup was high, the event was also an opportunity to develop the next generation of marine-minded individuals. RNZYS General Manager Sarah Wiblin spoke about leveraging partnerships within the marine industry as being a key component of the week-long event. “The response from our RNZYS partners was amazing, with them getting onboard quickly and supporting the vision of bringing together youth sailors from across the country to expand and ignite their futures in the marine environment”.
The sailors enjoyed hearing from the likes of Live Ocean, Predict Wind, and MAST New Zealand, doing offsite tours of North Sails & Southern Spars. They also experienced a formal dinner with RNZYS life members, past commodores and supporters of youth sailing to round out their week.
The regatta holds a special connection to Emirates Team New Zealand (ETNZ), and the Toyota Kiwi Cup sailors ended their week with a video call from Barcelona, where Ray Davies and Josh Junior answered their burning questions, gave them some insider information, the lucky sailors even got to give a quick wave to Peter Burling, Blair Tuke and the sailing team training on the simulator.
The victorious Royal Akarana Yacht Club team. Photos / Live Sail Die
Toyota New Zealand Assistant Vice President, Susanne Hardy says that the regatta is a significant step for these young sailors towards achieving their goals of progressing in the sport of sailing.
“At Toyota, we’ve always been strong supporters of grassroots sport and know the importance it plays in the success of many of our national teams. Our longstanding support of sailing in New Zealand with the Optimist Nationals, through to Emirates Team New Zealand is a testament to that. It’s exciting to see the Toyota Kiwi Cup taking place for the first time, it is a great opportunity for these young sailors to test themselves and have some fun.”
“To continue the ongoing legacy of New Zealand sailing success we need to foster our young sailors and develop their skills to continue to compete on the world stage at the top level” says RNZYS General Manager Sarah Wiblin. “For some of these young people their pathway to being part of ETNZ will start this week and that’s something we’re all proud to be a part of.”
Full results here. - Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron
